Console Corner: FIFA vs PES battle lines are drawn as demo impresses

Damien Lucas

Konami look to have drawn first blood in the battle of the football simulators this year after releasing an impressive demo of its latest iteration of Pro Evolution Soccer.

The former king of footie games, PES was dethroned by FIFA in the last decade with a series of brilliant improvements.

But EA’s biggest competitor isn’t going away and returns this year with PES 2016 which looks a very serious upgrade on last year’s game.

The PES 2016 demo is already available to download on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One while the FIFA 16 equivalent won’t be released until September 9 – two weeks before the full game is launched on September 22, which is the week after PES 2016 hits stores.

In the PES 2016 demo gamers can choose to play a seven-minute or 10-minute match with a small selection of teams including Roma, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Corinthians, Palmeiras and the national teams of Brazil and France.

You can also alter the weather and difficulty.

At 3.3GB, you may want to leave you console in rest mode so it can download while you do something else.

Some of the new PES 2016 features include:

– Dynamic Weather: weather can change during a match and influence play.

– Goalkeeper ID: Personality to each keeper with new parameters for actions.

– Revamped Master League: Complete overhaul with a new player transfer system.

– Dynamic Wide Angle Camera: Camera will zoom and tilt based on the position of the ball.

– Celebration Control: Complete control of the celebration after a goal.